the seven congregations, to Ephesus, and to Smyrna,
and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to
Philadelphia, and to Laodicea."--Rev. 1:9-11.

This gives a clue to the date of the Apocalypse. It was written when John
was in the Isle of Patmos: "It is the general testimony of ancient
authors, that St. John was banished into Patmos in the time of Domitian,
in the latter part of his reign, and restored by his successor, Nerva. But
the book could not be published till after John's release, and return to
Ephesus, in Asia. Domitian died in 96, and his persecution did not
commence till near the close of his reign."--DR. CLARKE.

"DOMITIAN, having exercised his cruelty against many, and unjustly slain
no small number of noble and illustrious men at Rome, ... at length
established himself as the successor of NERO, in his hatred and hostility
to GOD. He was the _second_ that raised a persecution against us. In this
persecution, it is handed down by tradition, that the apostle and
evangelist, JOHN, ... was condemned to dwell on the island of Patmos.
IRENAEUS, indeed, in his fifth book against the heresies, where he speaks
of the calculation formed on the epithet of Antichrist, in the
above-mentioned Revelation of JOHN, speaks in the following manner
respecting him: 'If, however, it were necessary to proclaim his name
(_i.e._ Antichrist's), openly at the present time, it would have been
declared by him who saw the Revelation, for it was not long since it was
seen, but _almost in our own times_, at the _close_ of DOMITIAN's
reign.' "--EUSEBIUS.

Prof. Stuart, who dissents from the opinion, admits that "a majority of
the older critics have been inclined to adopt the opinion of Irenaeus,
viz.: that it was written during the reign of Domitian, _i.e._, during the
last part of the first century, or in A. D. 95 or 96."--Com. _Apoc._, V.
I., p. 263.

John's adherence to the word and testimony of Christ, had caused his
banishment--as others "were slain--for the word of God, and for the
testimony which they held," (6:9); and whose living again and reigning
with Christ, was subsequently shown John in a vision, 20:4.

John was in the spirit; _i.e._, he was in a state of prophetic ecstasy, in
which he was, as it were, caught away from a realization of the actual and
the present, and shown "the things which must be hereafter." It was on the
"Lord's day," the first day of the week, which was so called because on
that d